Asteroid Mining Neg MNDI

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.....................................................................................................................................................1 ***Neg Stuff***........................................................................................................................................................2 **Inherency**..........................................................................................................................................................3 **Kills People**.......................................................................................................................................................4 Radiation..................................................................................................................................................................5 Mining......................................................................................................................................................................6 **Resources**..........................................................................................................................................................7 Not Worth It............................................................................................................................................................8 Platinum Impossible................................................................................................................................................9 A2: China................................................................................................................................................................10 **Impacts**............................................................................................................................................................13 Prefer Short Term Risks.........................................................................................................................................14 A2: ANTS................................................................................................................................................................15 **Alien DA**..........................................................................................................................................................16 1NC.........................................................................................................................................................................17 2NC Link Ext..........................................................................................................................................................18 2NC A2: Aliens Peaceful........................................................................................................................................20 2NC Aliens Bad !....................................................................................................................................................23 2NC Alien Domination Ext....................................................................................................................................24 Ext. A2: Aliens arent in space...............................................................................................................................25 **China Disad**.....................................................................................................................................................26 1nc shell..................................................................................................................................................................27 Uniqueness ext.......................................................................................................................................................29 Internal link ext.....................................................................................................................................................30 A2 Rare earth elements dont come from asteroids...........................................................................................32 **Spending Links**...............................................................................................................................................33 Spends too much....................................................................................................................................................34 **Privatization CP**..............................................................................................................................................35 Solvency Evidence.................................................................................................................................................36 **Robot CP**.........................................................................................................................................................38 1NC.........................................................................................................................................................................39 2NC Overview........................................................................................................................................................40 A2: Humans Not Key.............................................................................................................................................41 A2: Astronauts in danger.......................................................................................................................................42 A2: Public interest not key to more exploration....................................................................................................43 A2: Perm do Both..................................................................................................................................................44
***Neg Stuff***
NASA is already developing a vehicle to asteroid mine
**Inherency**
Poeter 5-11 (Damon Poeter, staff writer, PCMag, NASA Preps Asteroid-Mining Spacecraftfor 2014 Launch, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385949,00.asp)
NASA will bring a beloved arcade game to life in 2014 when it deploys an unmanned spacecraft capable of busting up asteroids. Actually, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft won't exactly be capable of blowing up the small, rocky leftovers from the solar system's birthlet alone possess an energy shield or the ability to jump into hyperspace.
But the vessel will be equipped with a robotic arm built to pluck samples from a near-Earth asteroid designated 1999 RQ36 when it reaches its destination in 2020. NASA announced its first-ever mission to retrieve asteroid samples and bring
them back to Earth on Thursday.
"This is a critical step in meeting the objectives outlined by President Obama to extend our reach beyond lowEarth orbit and explore into deep space," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said in a statement. "It's robotic missions like these that will pave the way for future human space missions to an asteroid and other deep space destinations."
**Kills People**
The journey there will the crew even NASA supporter says
Radiation
Watson 10 (Traci Watson, xxxxx, 6-28-10, Physorg.org, Landing on an asteroid: Not like the movie, http://www.physorg.com/news196920110.html)
it's streaking toward Earth at the time. NASA would prefer to go to one before it gets to that stage. Studies by Adamo, former astronaut Thomas Jones and others show that a round trip to a target
THE TRIP TAKES A LONG, LONG TIME. Willis and company arrive at their target asteroid in a few days, if not a few hours. Admittedly, asteroid would typically take five to six months. That assumes NASA shoots for one of the 40 or so asteroids that come closest to the Earth's path in the 2020s and 2030s and relies on spacecraft similar to those NASA had designed for Bush's moon mission. Another problem during the journey -- the crew would spend months "cooking" in space radiation, said NASA's Dave Korsmeyer, who has compiled a list of the most accessible asteroids. Shuttle passengers are somewhat screened from such radiation by Earth's magnetic field. Astronauts who leave Earth's orbit have no such protection. Space radiation raises the risk of cancer and in extreme cases causes nausea and vomiting, said Walter Schimmerling,
former program scientist of NASA's space radiation program. The astronauts might need to take drugs to prevent the ill effects of radiation. Then there's the "prolonged isolation and confinement" that the crew will have to endure, said Jason Kring of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. "This crew will be more on their own than any other crew in history."
If there's an emergency halfway into the trip, the astronauts would not be able to get home in a few days, as the Apollo 13 crew did. Instead it would take weeks, if not months.
Actual mining is a danger to the crew
Mining
Watson 10 (Traci Watson, staff writer, 6-28-10, Physorg.org, Landing on an asteroid: Not like the movie, http://www.physorg.com/news196920110.html)
HUMANS CAN'T WALK OR DRIVE ON AN ASTEROID. Once they land on the asteroid "the size of Texas," the heroes of "Armageddon" run over the spiky terrain, except when they're steering two tank-like vehicles. In reality, even the biggest asteroids have practically no gravity. So anything in contact with the surface could easily drift away. "You don't land on an asteroid," said former Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, a longtime advocate of asteroid studies. "You pull up
to one and dock with it. And getting away from it, all you have to do is sneeze and you're gone." He envisions a
spaceship hovering next to the asteroid and occasionally firing its thrusters to stay in place. Astronauts wouldn't walk on an asteroid. They would drift next to it, moving themselves along with their gloved hands. To keep from floating into space, crewmembers could anchor a network of safety ropes to the asteroid's
surface, but "that has its own risks, because we don't understand how strong the surfaces of asteroids are and whether (they) would hold an astronaut in place," said Daniel Scheeres, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado. The minimal gravity also means that any dust the astronauts stir up will hang in a suspended cloud for a long time. Because there's no weather on an asteroid, there's no erosion to smooth the dust particles. "It's all going to stay pretty razor-sharp. It's not the most friendly stuff in the universe," Korsmeyer said. Keeping humans safe as they explore an asteroid "is going to be really tricky." Humans will be in danger
Space Studies Program 10 (international Space University Space Studies Program 2010, Pg. 9)
During the mission, mining equipment may need periodic maintenance and repair, as well as unexpected troubleshooting. We can use humans, robots, or a hybrid use of both to repair the equipment as needed. Robots are desirable for planned repetitive tasks, whereas humans offer enhanced dexterity and adaptability. However, placing human workers in space exposes them to health hazards many magnitudes greater than those experienced on Earth, resulting in an increased risk of cancer and infertility. We must consider the degree to which it is appropriate, or ethical, to subject humans to this environment. Fully informed consent is necessary and we must explore acceptable levels of risk for very long
duration missions.
**Resources**
The resources in asteroid mining is worth less than average dirt Brak, Ronald, 2/6/06, Research scientist, The Great Mining Con, http://ronaldbrak.blogspot.com/2006/02/great-asteroid-mining-con.html There are some people who think that mining asteroids is a good idea. And not just for building things to use in space, but to ship metals to earth to sell. They say things like, The metals in the near-earth iron asteroid Amun are worth 20 trillion dollars. But is the current market value of metals the proper way to value an asteroid? Wouldnt it make just as much sense to say that since I can buy meteorites for 25 cents a gram on e-bay, the market value of the asteroid is 25 cents per gram? And since it weighs 30 billion tons, therefore the asteroid is actually worth 7,500 trillion dollars? I mean thats using the market price, isnt it? And while these asteroid mining enthusiasts like to tell you how much money Amun is supposed to be worth, they never tell you how much a similar amount of earth dirt is worth. Well according to my calculations 30 billion tons of earth dirt is worth over $1,700,000,000,000,000. Which makes a ton of dirt worth about $57,000. Not bad, hey? Might be a good idea to run outside with a shovel. But wait a minute, you say! How can plain earth dirt be worth that much? Well its quite simple. You see 99.9999% pure silicon sells for about $200 per kilogram and the earths crust is 27.7% silicon. Of course its only worth that much after you have removed and purified the silicon. Before that the dirt is only worth as much as dirt. But counting an asteroid as being worth what it would be if all its substances were refined, purified and sold at todays prices is pretty much just as stupid. To really test how much the asteroid is worth, lets assume that there is a hole in the space-time continuum in your bedroom cupboard that not only allows instantaneous transportation of material from this asteroid, but it delivers it in conveniently sized chunks. Ignoring its novelty value, how much could you sell this asteroid material for on earth? Well the answer to that is simple. You could sell it for about $300 U.S. per ton because thats what scrap metal sells for these days and an iron asteroid is basically a big chunk of stainless steel. The good news is there are plenty of scrap metal dealers around so you wont have to lug it too far to trade it for cash. This means that But wait a minute! Some people say asteroids are supposed to be chock full of valuable metals such as platinum which currently sells for about $33 a gram! Couldnt we just extract the platinum and forget about the steel? Well there are some problems with this. You see on earth theres all sorts of geological activity, mostly involving water, that can concentrate ores and metals. But iron asteroids dont have this activity. Theyre just chunks of a busted planetoids core. As a result, precious metals arent going to be concentrated but are going to be evenly spread throughout the damn thing.
Not Worth It
Platinum in asteroids is worthless and almost impossible to extract Brak, Ronald, 2/6/06, Research scientist, The Great Mining Con, http://ronaldbrak.blogspot.com/2006/02/great-asteroid-mining-con.html But some iron asteroids, perhaps one in fifty, contain 30 grams of platinum per ton or more! On earth 30 grams of platinum per ton would be equal to moderate to high grade platinum ore, so if your chunks of asteroid had this much in them, surely you could sell them to someone who owns a platinum refinery for a good price? Well, probably not, because I dont think theyd be very impressed by the fact that the platinum is inside a block of nickel alloy stainless steel. That could increase the cost of extracting the platinum considerably. Most things become harder to extract once theyve been placed inside a solid hunk of steel. A platinum refinery wouldn't pay as much for it as a scrap metal dealer.
Platinum Impossible
China does not control REE pricing (independent traders do) CRI 6-23-11 (China Radio International, "China Does Not Control Pricing for Rare Earth ,"
http://english.cri.cn/6826/2011/06/23/2021s644394.htm) China as the world's largest rare earth producer and exporter does
A2: China
not control pricing power for rare earths, a columnist from
Reuters told CRI on Thursday.

The export volume of rare earth metals from China in the first five months of this year fell 8.8 percent from a year earlier. China recently scaled back its rare earth mining projects to try to maintain its supplies in the long term, while at the same time trying to protect the environment. In the meantime, the price of rare earth minerals doubled within two weeks after Chinese authorities began enforcing mining restrictions. But Gu Wei, a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews, said she did not believe China controlled rare earth prices.
"I don't think China controls (them), because when it comes to control pricing one important element is you have very few producers for their oligopoly," Gu said. "Domestically, China currently doesn't have that situation yet with the world
worrying about China producing and exporting the last rare earth to the world."
Gu added that traders had pushed the price of rare earth higher.
"It's the traders, I believe, who have been pushing their prices higher, and this year we have been impacted by prices that have increased 10 times over what they were last year," she said. "So it looks like an appeal that China finally getting more pricing power."
Chinese monopoly on REEs will end Reuters 6-22-11 (Thomson Reuters, "China's global share of rare earth production to drop - report,"
http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFL3E7HM05C20110622) BEIJING, June 22 (Reuters) - China's global share of rare earth earth group chief said.
output will drop steeply in the next two years as other countries ramp up production to compensate for domestic curbs on mining the minerals, a former government official and future rare The country's rare earth output would drop from 95 percent of global output to 60 percent, reversing global reliance on China, Wang Caifeng, a former Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) official told the official China Daily.
Wang was now in charge of establishing China's rare earths industry association to help set prices and regulate industry consolidation, the newspaper said on Wednesday. "The association has completed preparation and is awaiting approval from the MIIT. Hopefully it will be launched within two months," Wang said.
Insisting that its high output levels are unsustainable and damaging to the environment, the central government slashed rare earth export quotas by 35 percent for the first half of 2011, building on previous quota cuts. The decision has choked off global supplies and driven prices up to record levels. The recent move to cut export quotas and restrict production of 17 elements used in key industries such as defence and renewable energy has angered many trading partners, especially Japan, where many manufacturers rely on Chinese
rare earths. Wang told the China Daily that production quotas this year were expected to grow by 5 percent over last year, matching a government statement in March.
Chinese monopoly on REEs will end domestic exploration Zhou 6-16-11 (Yan, China Daily, "Rare earths output ratio to decrease," http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/201106/16/content_12708457.htm) BEIJING - The
world's supply of rare-earth minerals will outstrip demand within five years, reversing global reliance on China's exports as more foreign players begin exploration of their own, industrial executives said. The soaring price of rare earths will also trigger global players to cash in on the valuable minerals. More countries with large rare-earth deposits will resume exploration after freezing it for years, which will lead to a
global reallocation of the minerals, Wang Hongqian, general manager of China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction Co Ltd (NFC), told China Daily. Consequently, "the current tight-supply situation will not last," Wang said. The State-owned NFC has tapped into Guangdong province, the mid-heavy rare-earth-rich region, by teaming up with local firms. NFC Southern Rare Earth (Xinfeng) Co, in which NFC owns 76 percent equity, received authorities' approval in May to build the world's biggest ion-type rare-earth separation project, with an annual capacity of 7,000 tons. Rare earth is the collective name for 17 metallic elements, of which the mid-heavy types are the most valuable because of their wide uses. The metals are needed for some advanced technologies, such as smart phones, hybrid cars and missiles. China, which supplies more than 90 percent of the minerals, adopted strict exploration and export regulations after rampant exploration caused heavy environmental pollution. Although it is the world's top rare-earth supplier, China controls only about 36 percent of the world's deposits. Countries
with large reserves, such as the United States and Australia, have yet to unfreeze exploration of the minerals. "More countries participating in the exploration of their own supply of rare earths will help ease the tightsupply situation and ease demand," said Chen Zhanheng, director of academic department, the Chinese Society of Rare Earths (CSRE). Chinese monopoly wont last HAWES11 (Byron, June 22, 2011 Flagging a Chinese REE Play RareMetalBlog.com, http://www.raremetalblog.com/2011/06/chinese-rareearths-output-ratio-to-decrease-rationalizing-tantamount-to-calm-before-a-storm.html)
Rare earths production in China, as a percentage of the global total, will fall sharply from the current 95 percent to 60 percent within two years, as foreign players resume mining of the precious minerals, an industry expert said. Wang Caifeng, a former official at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), told
China Daily on Tuesday that foreign output will reverse the global reliance on China's exports within two years. Wang is now in charge of establishing China's rare earths industrial association. Rare earths, a group comprising 17 elements or metals, are some of the most sought-after materials in industry and are used in a number of high-tech areas, such as wind turbines, missile guidance systems, hybrid car batteries and mobile phones. China, which
sits on just 30 percent of global reserves, has seen reserves depleted and has suffered environmental damage due to rampant mining. The United States, Japan and some European countries have complained previously about China reducing production. The US and Australia, which also have sizeable reserves, slashed production because of lower prices as a result of overproduction in China. But as China decreases its exports to preserve the minerals and protect its environment, prices on the international market have surged, forcing countries to seek alternative sources and those with reserves to consider restarting or boosting production. California-based Molycorp Inc, the only rare earths producer in the US, is expected to produce 20,000 tons annually, compared with US demand of 16,000 tons. Australian miner Lynas is also building a rare earths plant in Malaysia. China produced more than 120,000 tons of rare earths last year, with 87,000 tons for domestic use and 34,600 tons for export. Production quota this year is expected to grow by 5 percent, Wang said. China has implemented stringent policies and reduced its export quota to protect the resource from being overexploited and to gain more bargaining power over pricing in the global market. "Global supply of the metals, in particular the light type that can be found abundantly overseas, will surpass demand soon. Those countries with large deposits will reshape the supply scenario," Wang Hongqian, general manager of China Nonferrous Metal Industry's
Foreign Engineering and Construction Co (NFC), told China Daily earlier. Wang Caifeng said the industry association will help regulate the chaotic market and establish a reasonable price mechanism. "The association has completed preparation work and is awaiting approval from the MIIT. Hopefully it will be launched within two months," Wang said. "We will be on the frontline in helping to establish a price mechanism, and to further regulate the consolidation of the scattered industry while offering our assistance to companies seeking international cooperation," she said. The
establishment of the rare earths association is part of government efforts to tighten its grip on the precious metals. The State Council, or the Cabinet, said in May that within two years the three biggest companies should control 80 percent of the heavy rare
earths in the south of the country. China Minmetals, along with Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd (Chinalco), Ganzhou Rare Earth, and NFC, are widely speculated to be candidates that could develop into the three conglomerates. Wang Jionghui, Minmetals' assistant president, told China Daily that the company has urged the government to establish stockpiles of heavy rare earths to prevent overexploitation and increase the country's influence over pricing. China has already started to stockpile light rare earths in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, led by Baotou Steel Rare-Earth. Light rare earths are found mostly in Inner Mongolia. The more expensive heavy varieties are scattered across a number of provinces. Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region are the five areas in southern China rich in heavy rare earths.
Chinese monopoly is not a threat BLOOMBERG10 (11/1/10 U.S.: China's REE Monopoly Not a Threat http://www.theaureport.com/pub/na/7749) The U.S. Defense Department has concluded that China's monopoly on rare earth elements, used in military hardware such as missile guidance and radar systems, poses no threat to national security, according to a person familiar with a yearlong study by the Pentagon. The report notes that rising prices and supply uncertainties are spurring private investment in new mining operations outside of China that will help meet American military needs, which require less than 5% of U.S. rare earth consumption. China now provides 97% of the world's rare earths, a group of 17 metals that includes neodymium, samarium and dysprosium. Chinese monopoly slowly going away MINING TECHNOLOGY.COM 11(jan 27, Power to the People: The Rare Earth Minerals Market Goes Global http://www.miningtechnology.com/features/feature108235/)
China's rare earth mineral sector may have to dig deep to escape an uncertain future as buyers look to source their supplies elsewhere. The country still holds a monopoly over the minerals, there is no question of that. In fact, it supplies 95% of the elements to the rest of the world. But, in 2010, it slashed its export quotas for the fifth year running, creating an increased demand for the minerals in the US, Canada and Australia. In response, mining companies in these countries appear
to be coming into their own. The fact of the matter In slight contradiction with their name, rare earth minerals (REMs) can be found almost anywhere. What is rare, however, is to find them in large enough quantities to provide economic benefits. Finding heavy earth minerals in large
deposits is rarer still and it is these elements, such as neodymium, lanthanum and dysprosium, that are critical for producing electric and hybrid cars, wind-power turbines, small tools, most electronics and defence systems.
Historically, it was only China that had a significant interest in REMs because they were used in so many applications primarily developed by the Chinese. "Great Western Mineral Group also has several properties in North America and South Africa." Armed with a monopoly over the minerals, which are now essential to industries the world over, China is jacking up prices and cutting production. Donald Ranta, president and CEO of US-based Rare Element Resources, explains just how far China has gone in slashing its export quotas. "China has been decreasing its exports of
rare earths every year since 2005. In the early years the annual decreases were 4%-6% per year. "Then in 2009 the decrease was 12%, which was followed by a 40% decrease in 2010. There are reported to be further decreases planned for the first half of 2011. At the same time, China has been increasing its export duties on rare earths up to
approximately 15%-25%."
**Impacts**
Space colonization has a long timeframe we need to focus on the planet itself before we do any get-off-the-rock scenarios Williams 10 Physics instructor, Santa Rose Junior College, Peace Review ( Spring 2010, Lynda, "Irrational
Dreams of Space Colonization," http://www.scientainment.com/lwilliams_peacereview.pdf//Lydia)
The Destruction of Earth Threat According to scientific theory, the destruction of Earth is a certainty. About five billion years from now, when our sun exhausts its nuclear fuel, it will expand in size and envelope the inner planets, including the Earth, and burn them into oblivion. So yes, we are doomed, but we have 5 billion years, plus or minus a few hund red million, to plan our extraterrestrial escape. The need to colonize the Moon or Mars to guarantee our survival based on this fact is not pressing. There are also real risks due to collisions with asteroids and comets, though none are of immediate threat and do not necessitate extraterrestrial colonization. There are many Earthbased technological strategies that can be developed in time to mediate such astronomical threats such as gravitational tugboats that drag the objects out of range. The solar system could also potentially be exposed to galactic sources of high-energy gamma ray bursts that could fry all life on Earth, but any Moon or Mars base would face a similar fate. Thus, Moon or Mars human based colonies would not protect us from any of these astronomical threats in the near future. The Destruction of Earths BiosphereLife on Earth is more urgently threatened by the destruction of the biosphere and its life sustaining habitat due environmental catastrophes such as climate change, ocean acidification, disruption of the food chain, bio-warfare, nuclear war, nuclear winter, and myriads of other man- made doomsday prophesies. If we accept these threats as inevitabilities on par with real astronomical dangers and divert our natural, intellectual, political and technological resources from solving these problems into escaping them, will we playing into a self- fulfilling prophesy of our own planetary doom? Seeking space based solutions to our Earthly problems may indeed exacerbate the planetary threats we face. This is the core of the ethical dilemma posed by space colonization: should we put our recourses and bets on developing human colonies on other worlds to survive natural and man-made catastrophes or should we focus all of our energies on solving the problems that create these threats on Earth?
Prefer Short Term Risks
Existential threat turns space colonization Baum 10 Department of Geography @ PennState (1-19-10, Seth D., "Is Humanity Doomed?
Insights from Astrobiology," http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/2/591/pdf)
Should we care about sustaining civilization into the long-term, distant future? This is fundamentally an ethical question. Many sustainability advocates clearly do care about long-term sustainability. I agree with them. I see no compelling reason why we should value something more based strictly on when it occurs, just as I see no compelling reason why we should value something more based on where it occurs, or its race, or its gender, or its species. All these concerns strike me as morally irrelevant. I am hardly alone in holding this view about the moral irrelevance of time [32-34], which follows from very basic principles of equality. But others disagree, and there is vigorous debate on them, often under the rubric of discounting [35-37]. Further discussion of this debate is beyond the scope of this article; for the remaining discussion, I will simply assume that we care about long-term sustainability. If nothing else, the possibility of long-term sustainability can be of intellectual
or scientific interest. The fact that the universe will remain habitable for much longer than Earth will means that, if we care about long-term sustainability, then it is extremely important for us to colonize space [38]. Colonizing space will permit us to take advantage of all that the rest of the universe has to offer [39]. But this does not mean that we should focus our current efforts on space colonization. The reason for this is simple: Earth will remain habitable for another billion years or so. While a billion years is quite small
compared to the universes lifetime, it is quite large compared to the amount of time it probably takes to colonize space, especially given our current rapid rates of technological change. If we are to colonize space before the world ends, then we have plenty of time to do itas long as nothing really bad happens first. These really bad
things can be any global catastrophe so large that it would permanently eliminate our capacity to colonize space before the world ends. Several phenomena may be so catastrophic, including nuclear warfare, pandemic outbreaks, ecological collapse, disruptive technology, and of course impact from a large asteroid. Risks of
these events have been called global catastrophic risks or existential risks [40]. I will use the term existential risk here because it is our existence that is ultimately at stake. These risks are far more imminent than the end of the world. Therefore, if we care about long-term sustainability, then we should focus our efforts on avoiding these catastrophes, i.e., on reducing existential risk, so that future generations can colonize space.
Humans key to asteroid mining- ANTS alone cant solve International Space University 2010 [Over forty authors, The Space Studies Program brought together graduate students and space
professionals from all over the world and immersed them in an intensive nine-week, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international curriculum of lectures, workshops, site visits, and research. ASTRA was supported by space experts from around the world, both inside and outside the ISU community, Astra Asteroid mining, Technologies Roadmap and Applications, 2010, Mirlyn]
A2: ANTS
The prospect of adding humans to an asteroid mining mission affords enhanced performance, adaptability, and decision-making capabilities. These traits are especially valuable when dealing in the high costs of space related activities. We can further enhance these skills. The partnership of humans and robots suggests greater potential than either mode alone, allowing for greater possibilities in productivity, precision, and performance. Future research focusing on this collaboration will be integral to enabling missions of this stature (Recommendation
X). While shorter duration missions are feasible with current technology, improvement in countermeasures should be made in order to undertake longduration spaceflight (Recommendation XI). The trade-off study incorporates these considerations when comparing human and robotic missions.
**Alien DA**
1NC
Asteroid mining allows for extra-terrestrial contact Forgan and Elvis 3/29/11, Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA), Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Harvard
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , (Extrasolar Asteroid Mining as Forensic Evidence for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1103/1103.5369v1.pdf, 3/29/11) While this argument is clearly Earth-oriented, much of it applies in general to intelligent species which consume planetary resources at sufficient rates.
ETIs which have similar economic concerns to ours will eventually find extraplanetary mining projects desirable as their own resources become depleted (provided of course they are sufficiently technologically advanced). We suggest the complexity of TAM missions are such that most species capable of it have the potential to become truly space-faring. If technological civilisations more advanced than ours exist in the Galaxy, a distinct possibility given the estimated median age of terrestrial planets being around 1 Gyr older than Earth (Lineweaver, 2001), and asteroid mining is a common activity which underpins their existence, then searching for signatures of TAM is an appropriate activity for SETI to undertake. However, we must balance this with the realisation that systems 1 Gyr older than Earth will most likely no longer have debris discs. Exactly why this is the case will be explained in more detail in the next section. Competition over mineral harvesting makes aliens hostile Goldman Misra and Baum 11 [Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman, NASA Planetary Science Division, Jacob D. Haqq-Misra, Department of
Meteorology, Pennsylvania State Seth D. Baum, Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, 22 April 2011 Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis, Acta Astronautica, http://arxiv.org/pdf/1104.4462]
Another recommendation is that humanity should avoid giving off the appearance of being a rapidly expansive civilization. If an ETI perceives humanity as such, then it may be inclined to attempt a preemptive strike against us so as to prevent us from growing into a threat to the ETI or others in the galaxy. Similarly, ecosystem-valuing universalist ETI may observe humanitys ecological destructive tendencies and wipe humanity out in order to preserve the Earth system as a whole. These scenarios give us reason to limit our growth and reduce our impact on global ecosystems. It would be particularly important for us to limit our emissions of greenhouse
gases, since atmospheric composition can be observed from other planets. We acknowledge that the pursuit of emissions reductions and other ecological projects may have much stronger justifications than those that derive from ETI encounter, but that does not render ETI encounter scenarios insignificant or irrelevant.
These hostile aliens would then steal the sun Stephen Hawking 10, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and in 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Director of Research at the Centre for
Theoretical Cosmology in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, Discovery Chanel Broadcast: Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, April 25, 2010
Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they could reach. If so, it makes sense for them to exploit each new planet for material to build more spaceships so they could move on. Who knows what the limits would be? It might be possible to collect the energy from an entire star. To do that they could deploy millions of mirrors in space, encircling the whole sun and feeding the power to one single collection point. The absence of sun causes extinction Otterbein 08, Holly, popular science reporter, Popular Science: If the Sun went out, how long would life on earth survive, 10/20/2008
http://www.popsci.com/node/24698 If you put a steamy cup of coffee in the refrigerator, it wouldnt immediately turn cold. Likewise, if the sun simply turned off (which is actually physically impossible), the Earth would stay warmat least compared with the space surrounding itfor a few million years. But we surface dwellers would feel the chill much sooner than that.
Within a week, the average global surface temperature would drop below 0F. In a year, it would dip to 100. The top layers of the oceans would freeze over, but in an apocalyptic irony, that ice would insulate the deep water below and prevent the
oceans from freezing solid for hundreds of thousands of years. Millions of years after that, our planet would reach a stable 400, the temperature at which the heat radiating from the planets core would equal the heat that the Earth radiates into space, explains David Stevenson, a professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology.
Although some microorganisms living in the Earths crust would survive, the majority of life would enjoy only a brief post-sun existence. Photosynthesis would halt immediately, and most plants would die in a few weeks. Large trees, however, could survive for several decades, thanks to slow metabolism and substantial sugar stores. With the food chains bottom tier knocked out, most animals would die off quickly, but scavengers picking over the dead remains could last until the cold killed them.
2NC Link Ext.

When we mine on asteroid we would find other intelligent life Dillow 11, Clay, Mar. 31, 11, Popular Science, Technology Review, http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/? Finding advanced alien races in other parts of the galaxy isn't so hard, according to Duncan Forgan of the University of
Edinburgh and Martin Elvis at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Rather than look for direct evidence of cloud cities anchored to far-off rocks, we simply need to ask ourselves what our civilization might look like in the future, then look for signs of
that. Specifically, we need to look at other planetary systems' asteroid belts for signs of mining. The idea is that at some point, our home planet will run short of natural resources, and when that happens we will have to tap asteroids for sources of metals and other materials that will enable future economies and technologies. Any other advanced, intelligent civilization would likely face the same challenge, and by scanning faraway asteroid belts for signs
of interplanetary mining operations, we should be able to pick up signs of life with current and future telescope tech. Extrasolar mining should produce three types of signatures that we can detect from Earth, Forgan and Elvis write in their paper First, we know that debris belts contain certain ratios of elements, and using spectroscopy we could spot rings in other systems where those ratios are off. Second, it makes sense that we (and any other civilization) would mine large asteroids first rather than small ones, so we could monitor debris rings for artificial drops in the number of large rocks (also doable from earth). Thirdly, all the dust kicked up by mining activities would absorb heat from the nearby star, generating an identifiable thermal signature. Find all three of these indicators in the same place, and you've probably got extrasolar mining going on and an intelligent race of beings to make contact with. Right? Not exactly. Forgan and Elvis concede that all of these indicators can also occur naturally. So their asteroid-belt stress test for mining isn't exactly a hard indicator of intelligent life. But, they say, monitoring for these telltale sings would help us flag solar
systems that should get a second, harder look. And since planet hunting missions are already scanning the skies for some of these
things, why not peruse the data for them?
Asteroid Mining key to detecting aliens Forgan and Elvis 3/29/11, Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA), Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Harvard
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , (Extrasolar Asteroid Mining as Forensic Evidence for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1103/1103.5369v1.pdf, 3/29/11) The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has been primarily concerned with detecting artificial radio signals as a means of confirming the presence of extraterrestrial intelligences (ETIs). While a necessary and obvious search method, the science of SETI can only benefit from developing a multi-wavelength, multi-signal approach, such as optical SETI (Mead & Horowitz, 2010; Werthimer et al., 2010), the search for extraterrestrial artifacts such as Dyson spheres (Dyson, 1960), and the more mainstream searches for potentially habitable planets such as the Kepler (Borucki et al., 2010) andMearth missions (Nutzman et al., 2009). Artificial signals derived from well-studied astrophysical objects are particularly desirable, as they provide fertile ground for so-called piggy-back searches, which are in general easier to justify than dedicated searches which have more limited secondary science goals. One class of astrophysical object currently enjoying significant attention is the debris discs surrounding evolved stars. The remnants of more massive, gaseous discs that encircle young stars during their formation and initial evolution, they are composed of rocky/icy debris in a distribution of sizes. Like the belts of asteroids, comets and other bodies found in our own Solar System, such debris may be the
leftovers from planet formation, and is expected to be common in planetary systems, with lifetimes of order tens of
millions of years after the stars formation. Debris discs are typically detected in the infrared (IR) and sub-millimetre regimes, using photometry, spectroscopy or imaging (Wyatt 2008; Krivov 2010 and references within). Therefore, they have been ideal candidates for study
using space-based and ground-based telescopes over the past 30 or so years, beginning with the first detection of a debris disc around Vega (Aumann et al., 1984). They can be used as forensic evidence of earlier planet formation,
and they may even confirm the presence of planets due to dynamical features such as clumping and resonances (e.g. Wyatt & Dent 2002; Greaves et al. 2005, 2008). With new data arriving from the recently commissioned Herschel Space Telescope (e.g. Vandenbussche et al. 2010), and
the wealth of data generated from its predecessor, Spitzer, it would be advantageous for SETI researchers if debris discs could provide artificial signals indicating extraterrestrial intelligence. Targeted asteroid mining (TAM) could provide such evidence. Engineering limitations experienced by mankind will be the same for ETIs with a similar evolutionary history - considering the large quantities of raw material required to build space vehicles and habitats, TAM may be a difficult, but necessary (or at least highly desirable) skill for civilisations to advance along the path to becoming a truly spacefaring civilisation. This would appear to be true for both biological and post-biological civilisations (Cirkovic & Bradbury, 2006; Dick, 2008), as both require construction and manufacturing as a means of sustaining themselves. Asteroid Mining finds aliens Smithsonian Institution 11 [Smithsonian Science, John Barrat 05 April 2011,
Evidence of asteroid mining in our galaxy may lead to the discovery of extraterrestrial civilizations, http://smithsonianscience.org/2011/04/evidence-of-asteroid-mining-in-our-galaxy-may-lead-to-thediscovery-of-extraterrestrial-civilizations/] With Earths population moving toward 7 billion, humankind may someday need to look to space to help feed its need for
precious metals, iron ore and other raw materials. Asteroids are a logical place to look for such resources as they
contain enough gold, platinum, iron and nickel to perhaps one day make the technological challenges of mining them economically feasible. In fact, say astrophysicists Duncan Forgan of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh and Martin Elvis of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, if intelligent and more advanced civilizations exist on other planets then its a good bet that
some of these civilizations turned to asteroid mining long ago. If so, the hallmarks of their mining activities, such as unusual dirty
halos of cast-off dust and debris around large asteroids, might be detectable from earth.
In a recent paper Forgan and Elvis detail what type of signs astronomers might look for with optical, thermal and spectral telescopes to detect such mining activities. For example, a deficit of certain elements in the debris cloud around and near an asteroid may indicate elements which have been removed through mining. An unnatural ratio between large and small asteroids in a region may indicate where larger
asteroids have been targeted and broken up through mining activity. Asteroid mining also should leave distinct thermal signatures as drilling on a large scale would require great energy, and also create glassy silicas such as obsidian. As telescopes on Earth become more and more refined such tell-tale signatures of targeted mining of asteroids should become easier to detect than they are today, the scientists say. Asteroid mining may be a common milestone in the development of space-faring civilizations, and therefore if intelligent civilizations are common, then these observational signatures would also be common, Forgan and Elvis
write in their paper. To be detectable from Earth, asteroid mining must be prolific and industrial-scale, producing large amounts of debris and disrupting the system significantly, the astronomers write. In humankinds continuing search for extra terrestrial intelligence signatures of targeted asteroid mining may be among the first clues to alert us to the presence of other intelligent, technological life forms in our galaxy.
Mining key to finding aliens Speigel 11 [Lee Speigel, copy editor at ABC news, Searching for an ET? Scientists Say Look for Signs of Aliens Mining Asteroids, AOL News,
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/06/searching-for-an-et-scientists-say-look-for-signs-of-aliens-min/]
So is there another way to try to find aliens in our galactic neighborhood? Some scientists suggest looking for signs of ETs mining asteroids. Interesting concept, because it shouldn't be difficult to detect any outer space mining operations conducted by
aliens, especially something that would kick up an unusual amount of dust in the process as they search for precious metals found in rocky asteroids. "The development of civilizations like ours into spacefaring, multi-planet entities requires significant raw
materials to construct vehicles and habitats. Interplanetary debris, including asteroids and comets, may provide such a source of raw materials," write Duncan Forgan of the University of Edinburgh and Martin Elvis of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The two scientists have written a paper to be published in the International
Journal of Astrobiology. "We present the hypothesis that extraterrestrial intelligences (ETIs) engaged in asteroid mining may be detectable from Earth." They speculate that any alien mining efforts would result in specific effects that might be seen by Earth-based technology. The first clue to a possible deep-space mining activity is that a chemical signature would result in the debris ring encircling a star. This debris "may be the leftovers from planet formation, and is expected to be common in planetary systems," Forgan and Elvis write. Second, an alien mining operation would cause detectable changes in the sizes of objects in those debris discs. Forgan and Elvis believe that these would be big clues for finding extraterrestrials. "If technological civilizations more advanced than ours exist in the galaxy ... and asteroid mining is a common activity which underpins their existence, then searching for signatures of targeted asteroid mining (or TAM) is an appropriate activity for SETI to undertake," the scientists suggest. It should be pointed
out that they also realize their theory isn't the last word in detecting ETs. It's possible that some of these asteroid debris changes, whether physical or chemical, could be caused by the simple natural act of asteroids bumping or colliding into each other. "We cannot expect a conclusive detection of extraterrestrial intelligence by TAM -- what it can provide is a call to attention. Debris disc systems with unusual dust size distributions and locations ... provide astrobiologists with candidates for further study," the scientists write. The idea of going to asteroids to find usable materials is one that NASA is already implementing. The space agency is looking to send the first manned mission to a nearby asteroid in 2025. Aliens could be mining resources or hiding in the asteroids Michaud 07 Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Policy, a branch of the U.S. State Department in Washington. (Michael A.G.,
Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials) An interstellar probe would be obvious if it were a self-reproducing machine, Barrow and Tipler claimed; it would construct an artifact in our solar system. This object would be so noticeable that it could not possibly be overlooked.75 As we do not see such an artifact, this perspective supports Tiplers view that we are unique.
Habitats that migrated to our solar system in the past could be drawing on its asteroidal or cometary resources. As our asteroid belt is an excellent source of raw materials, Papagiannis thought that it would be the best place to search for alien space colonies, which might reradiate in the infrared. To date, searches have not detected any. What if they do not wish to be seen? Matloff and Martin speculated that alien world ships could exist silently in our solar system, masquerading as asteroids or comets.
2NC A2: Aliens Peaceful

Alien encounter causes demoralization as well as mental diseases Michaud 07 Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Policy, a branch of the U.S. State Department in Washington. (Michael A.G.,
Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials)
Finding other intelligent beings more advanced than we are would challenge our self-image as the chosen people of an anthropocentric God. If God only realizes Himself within an evolutionary progress, declared Bishop Barnes, then elsewhere
He has reached a splendor and fullness of existence to which Earths evolutionary advance can add nothing.6
Psychologist Jung thought that to find ourselves no more an intellectual match for superior beings than our pets are for us, to find all our aspirations outmoded, might leave us completely demoralized. (The) reins would be torn from our hands and we would, as a tearful old medicine man once said to me, find ourselves without dreams, that is, we would fi nd our intellectual and spiritual aspirations so outmoded as to leave us completely paralyzed. White wondered if contact would provoke a new mental illness that resembled manic depression on a grand scale. Contact with aliens destroys culture Michaud 07 Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Policy, a branch of the U.S. State Department in Washington. (Michael A.G.,
Human history is littered with examples of cultural shockof societies that were demoralized, destroyed or absorbed by other civilizations. Would an encounter with superior aliens disorient our thinking, diminish our achievements, wreck our
confidence? The first widely quoted study addressing the cultural consequences of contact with extraterrestrials was done by the Brookings Institution for NASA in 1960. The Brookings experts, who did not rule out direct contact, observed that anthropological files contain many
examples of societies, sure of their place in the universe, which have disintegrated when they have had to associate with previously unfamiliar societies espousing different ideas and different life ways; others that survived such an experience usually did so by paying the price of changes in values and attitudes and behavior.
First, lets consider the remote contact scenario. Morrison and Oliver believed that there would be no culture shock from detecting the first alien signal, which probably would be a beacon. What if a later signal were information-rich? Morrison admitted that the impact could be significant if extraterrestrial wisdom is totally different from what we consider the conventional wisdom here, although he foresaw that the impact would be slowly and soberly filtered through scholars. Sagan spoke on both sides of this issue. The cultural shock from the content of the message is likely, in the short run, to be small, he wrote in 1973. He responded more cautiously a decade later, saying there is a significant potential for culture shock.
Others believe that the effect of high-information contact would be overwhelming even without any visits. If a superior civilization made their store of knowledge available to us, Kuiper and Morris warned, that would abort our further development. Musso foresaw that introducing alien technology into our society would be an event very similar to a direct contact, which on Earth has almost always been destructive for the less advanced culture. Even aliens with the best intentions will cause human extinction Michaud 07 Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Policy, a branch of the U.S. State Department in Washington. (Michael A.G.,
The optimistic scenario only works if we are free to accept or reject the effects of contact, historian McNeill warned. If we have no choice in the matterespecially in the case of direct physical confrontation the end of human civilization as we have known it would become an expected consequence. Societies with inferior technology have invariably collapsed when confronted with a more advanced technical culture. There may be a kind of natural selection among societies, McNeill suggested: Only the fittest can survive.
We know of an Earthly example, 30 thousand years in our past. The Neanderthals succumbed because, in anthropologist Richard Kleins analysis, they wielded culture less effectively than modern humans. Huntington, addressing the unilateral impact of Western civilization on all others, found that the distribution of cultures reflects the distribution of power. Allen Tough challenged these gloomy perspectives. If contact occurs without aggression, the less powerful culture often survives and even prospers. Yet, we know that powerful societies motivated by what they believe to be the best of intentions can damage
others. Even if there is no threat of violence, the human experience suggests that a civilizations expansion of power has almost always involved its using that power to extend its values, practices, and institutions to other societies. Idealistic cultural emissariesparticularly missionariescan have a devastating effect. Author and historian Alan
Moorhead described classic examples in his book The Fatal Impact, about the consequences of Europeans impinging on less powerful societies in the South Pacifi c. In the case of Tahiti, the impact was not immediate; the Tahitians initially welcomed the English and were sorry to see them go. Cultural shocks accumulated over time.
Receiving technology from aliens would cause us to become beholden to them, and stop innovating ourselves Michaud 07 Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Policy, a branch of the U.S. State Department in Washington. (Michael A.G.,
Some believe that an influx of alien knowledge much more advanced than our own, and the solutions to problems we have struggled with for generations, could break the intellectual morale of human scientists and other scholars. We might simply wait for alien answers, translating them into our own terms. Biologist Wald thought that receiving information from advanced extraterrestrials would be like attaching ourselves to the other civilization by an umbilical cord. Alien transmissions might completely supersede all further human efforts in the direction of hard-won creative understanding; superior alien knowledge could degrade the human enterprise. What are you going to do he asked, when all the things that make you proud and think it worthy to be a man are demonstrated to be unimaginably inferior to what creatures out there know and do? All of our efforts would be devalued if they were not part of a continuing process, Rees predicted, if they did not have consequences that resonated into the far future. Barrow worried that leapfrogging the normal scientific and cultural progression might sap our motivation, keep fundamental discoveries forever out of reach, and put us in the dangerous position of manipulating things that we do not understand.
The New York Times had issued a warning 80 years ago. It would be better to find out things in our own slow, blundering way rather than to have knowledge for which we are unprepared precipitated on us by superior intelligences.
Alien good-intentions backfire in doomsday Michaud 07 Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Policy, a branch of the U.S. State Department in Washington. (Michael A.G.,
Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials) Contact pessimists, arguing from what they believe is a hard-nosed, realist perspective based on knowledge of our own history, say that human
experience does not support the best-case scenarios of contact. They argue that there could be negative consequences ranging from philosophical dislocation to the extermination of Homo sapiens. Arthur C. Clarke thought that contact with extraterrestrial civilizations might be the most devastating event in our history. Stephen Jay Gould, focusing on our intellectual lives, predicted that a successful result from the search would be cataclysmic. Biologist George Wald declared that he could conceive of no nightmare as terrifying as establishing communication with a superior technology in outer space. Even the generally optimistic Albert Harrison thought that, although intelligent aliens could help us to solve our problems and usher in a new Golden Age, the introduction of their ideas into our society could backfire and create a nightmare without end. Humans would otherize the aliens, causing backlash Michaud 07 Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Policy, a branch of the U.S. State Department in Washington. (Michael A.G.,
The other side of unifying ourselves may be hostility toward outsiders. People define their identity as much by what they are not as by what they are. Nationalism on Earth often began by defining an us and a them, by demonizing a religious other, even portraying them as subhuman. In our own history, group cohesion often has been reinforced by skepticism
toward strangers, and by a readiness to develop fear of them. Researchers have foundto their displeasurethat
negative emotional responses to members of a different race are independent of conscious thought. Others find that actual contact sometimes makes people more prejudiced. The more decipherable information we receive from an extraterrestrial society, the more we should expect a xenophobic reaction against alien cultural influences. There could be resistance to the human imitation of extraterrestrials, a nativist movement and Counter-Reformation combined. Some groups might demonize the aliens, attacking their ideas as immoral or evil; the symbols and artifacts of the other civilization might become targets. In the remote contact scenario, the most vulnerable targets would be the messengersthose who interpret and distribute information from extraterrestrial intelligence. Some extremists might try to end contact by interfering with the signal or by attacking the detecting observatory. Direct contact with extraterrestrials, of the kind most often foreseen in science fiction films and television dramas, would intensify such reactions. Physically encountering aliens could provoke a new racism. If the extraterrestrials were convinced of their superiority, the targets of that racism might be us. Humans are afraid of aliens Michaud 07 Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Policy, a branch of the U.S. State Department in Washington. (Michael A.G.,
Deep within the human psyche is a reservoir of fear about contact with other intelligent beings in outer space,
Donald Tarter warned. Should the search succeed, it is likely to give plausibility to a topic that most now perceive as incredible. It is not only paranoids who worry about the possible risks of contact. After a National Academy
of Sciences report claimed that contact would be beneficial, an editorial in The New York Times warned that the astronomers were boyishly defiant of our inherited wisdom. Questioning the assumption of benign intent, the editorial observed that in the days when saber-toothed tigers prowled the night, humans acquired a healthy instinct: fear of the dark. Noting the fate of the American Indians, the newspaper cautioned that astronomers should take care not to stir up extragalactic tigers.
Aliens will be hostile- two scenarios Goldman Misra and Baum 11 [Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman, NASA Planetary Science Division, Jacob D. Haqq-Misra, Department of
2NC Aliens Bad !
We see two types of scenarios in which ETI might intentionally harm us. The first scenario involves hostile, selfish ETI that attack us so as to maximize their own success. This scenario suggests a standard fight-to-win conflict: a war of the worlds. The second scenario involves ETI that are in no way selfish but instead follow some sort of universalist ethical framework. ETI might attack us not out of selfishness but instead out of a universalist desire to make the galaxy a better place. Aliens Hostile Goldman Misra and Baum 11 [Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman, NASA Planetary Science Division, Jacob D. Haqq-Misra, Department of
Meteorology, Pennsylvania State Seth D. Baum, Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, 22 April 2011 Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis, Acta Astronautica, http://arxiv.org/pdf/1104.4462] A selfish ETI is one that places intrinsic value only on properties of itself: its lives, its welfare, etc. The idea of a selfish ETI is quite
prominent in discussions of ETI. For example, geographer Jared Diamond [73], drawing from his expertise in encounters between different intelligent populations on Earth, argues that astronomers are often overly optimistic about ETI encounters: The astronomers and others hope that the extraterrestrials, delighted to discover fellow intelligent beings, will sit down for a friendly chat. Perhaps the astronomers are right; that's the best-case scenario. A less pleasant prospect is that the extraterrestrials might behave the way we intelligent beings have behaved whenever we have discovered other previously unknown intelligent beings on earth, like unfamiliar humans or chimpanzees and gorillas. Just as we did to those beings, the extraterrestrials might proceed to kill, infect, dissect, conquer, displace or enslave us, stuff us as specimens for their museums or pickle our skulls and use us for medical research. My own view is that
those astronomers now preparing again to beam radio signals out to hoped-for extraterrestrials are nave, even dangerous. While Diamond is correct in noting that many astronomers neglect the potential perils of an ETI encounter, it would be a mistake to assume that astronomers are uniformly nave in this regard. For example, Nobel Laureate astronomer Sir Martin Ryle opposes active efforts to communicate with ETI
due to concern that humans would be attacked [36,74-75]. Similar concerns have been raised by several others [26,43,76-77]. Even Carl Sagan, who is usually quite optimistic about ETI encounters, has expressed concern regarding ETI risks [14]. A common theme underlying the pessimism of these various commentators is the likelihood that ETI would be more
advanced than humanity.
Extraterrestrial contact leads to war Halpern 97, Paul, Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, 1997,
The Quest for Alien Planets, p. xv Yet for all the clashes between
world nations, the situation between terrestrials and aliens would be far more volatile. Earth-dwellers, be they Africans, Europeans, Asians, or Americans, have many more commonalities than differences. As members of the same species, we harbor similar needs and desires. However, extraterrestrials, if they happened to be intelligent, would presumably possess radically dissimilar attributes. These severe differences could lead to profound difficulties, perhaps mutual hostility. Maybe, for example, the intonation patterns of human voices would horribly grate on certain alien races. Or the eating habits of some extraterrestrials might disgust and offend us, leading to attitudes, on
our part, of extreme prejudice.
War with aliens causes extinction Goldman Misra and Baum 11 [Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman, NASA Planetary Science Division, Jacob D. Haqq-Misra, Department of
2NC Alien Domination Ext.
The reason to believe that ETI would be more advanced is because humans and human technology are relatively recent phenomena in the history of Earth. We have only had radio communication for about a century, or just a few generations, which suggests that advanced technology can develop quickly compared to evolutionary timescales. Following this reasoning, it is likely that any extant ETI has been around much longer than us and would have developed far greater technological abilities than we could imagine for ourselves. Even if an ETI is younger than us, the very ability to contact us would likely imply progress beyond that which our society has obtained. We have not yet figured out how to achieve interstellar communication or travel; a society that has these capabilities is almost certainly more technologically advanced than we are. If their communications are
directed toward a general audience and not only intended for humans or Earth, then they may also be more advanced in their ability to communicate across cultural barriers. This is reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarkes insight that any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic. If ETI are indeed more advanced, then any form of contact will likely proceed according to the ETIs desires, whatever those might be [34]. For example, we are almost guaranteed to lose in a fight between us and them, and there is a strong likelihood that such a loss would be so severe that we would cease to survive as a civilization. On the other hand, if ETI decide to use their superior abilities to help us, then they may be able to help solve many of our problems. Aliens would end us easily-they are aggressive and will bring weapons Michaud 07 Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Policy, a branch of the U.S. State Department in Washington. (Michael A.G.,
Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials) Others have issued similar warnings. The civilization that blurts out its existence
on interstellar beacons at the first opportunity, declared Rood, might be like some early hominid descending from the trees and calling Here kitty to a saber-toothed tiger.
Bracewell foresaw a fearful reaction if we found an object of alien origin inside our solar system or heading our way. I dont see how you can avoid having a lot of apprehension. There would certainly be pressure to attack the thing. . . . But it might be dangerous to do that, because I dont believe
that we would find any space ship that had taken the trouble to come all this way and was not armed.
A U.S. Congressional Research Service report had cautioned us 30 years ago: Although it is tempting to hypothesize that any civilization advanced enough to have conquered the difficulties of interstellar flight would have overcome the petty differences that spawn wars, that civilization might not be certain that we would be peaceful. (emphasis added) Previous experience with warlike peoples might have convinced them to
arrive at a new planet well-armed and ready for combat.

Several scientists, historians, and others have argued that the need and desire for security has been a constant in human social evolution. Fear of the foreigner has been the most fundamental factor in foreign affairs throughout human history. Why, some ask, would aliens think differently? Shostak focused on the question of intent. Noting that interstellar travel is risky and that broadcasting strong signals is possibly dangerous, he suggested that passive aliens might not undertake either. Aliens who take the trouble to either signal their presence or transport
themselves beyond the bounds of their own system will be, by definition, aggressive. The Clarks came to the opposite
conclusion: extraterrestrials who broadcast their existence are likely to be peaceful. If their intentions were hostile, they would lie in wait for others to signal their presence. Technology on earth has been honed by warfare, observed Bracewell; much the same would prevail elsewhere. Even if leaders had influenced whole populations to follow less competitive paths, such a population would be overrun by those who value technical mastery of nature. Emphasizing the importance of migration in suppressing separate evolutions of intelligent life, Bracewell argued that the first one to spread is likely to dominate. The reason that no intelligent species arose on the American prairies or the Siberian steppes is that the early models of primitive man originating in Africa were able to walk all over the Earth (except Antarctica) and pre-empt the evolution of independent intelligent species. If humans migrate into neighboring galactic space, they may undercut independent evolution again. So might other technological species. If an expanding civilization encounters another with similar desires and capability, warned Rood, the most
powerful will destroy or force a merger with the other. The drive to prevent competitors favors speed. Brin derided the classic SETI scenario as a wishful fantasy that does not have a single precedent in the history of human-to-human contact. That scenario fails to consider that the sparsity of beacons may be telling us something important about the cosmos.
The key factor could be the survival time of technological life-forms, which may be suppressed systematically. The vast desert of this scenario may be the result of intelligent interference. If this is true, contact will be the end of us. Cade concluded that even a slightly more
advanced society could completely exterminate terrestrial life with little or no effort. MacVey also thought that we could be easily eliminated; it is only a matter of using the correct pesticide. If creatures able to travel interstellar distances wanted our planet, Grinspoon wrote, it would not resemble a war as much as an extermination or a wildlife relocation program.
Ext. A2: Aliens arent in space

Civilizations will have to leave their planets to colonizeits inevitable Michaud 07 Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Policy, a branch of the U.S. State Department in Washington. (Michael A.G.,
The classic SETI paradigm rests on an assumption that technological civilizations do not expand beyond their home systems. That may not be a sound assumption. If some other civilizations have much greater technological capabilities and much greater resources than we do, interstellar vehicles carrying intelligent beings may be more easily within their reach. Andrew Clark and David Clark addressed this by inventing a category of extraterrestrials they called IMETI, or extraterrestrial intelligence capable of interstellar mobility. In their view, it is just as possible that there are significant numbers of IMETI as it is that there are significant numbers of radio-transmitting ETI.57 Darling projected that an intelligent technological species will be spacefaring and star-colonizing within a period that is completely insignificant on a geological timescale. The primary question might be one of motivation: Why would an advanced civilization choose to launch inhabited interstellar spacecraft? During the 1970s and 1980s, several physical scientists assumed that population growth would be a driving force for expansion. Rood and Trefil thought that every civilization must face its own Malthusian dilemma. Only those who solve it by expansion are likely to try to establish contact with other races; any aliens we come across are likely to have already expanded into space. Other scientists proposed models of migration and colonization, with widely varying estimates of how rapidly alien civilizations might expand through the Galaxy. Morrison questioned the Malthusian view that human society or its counterpart will grow indefinitely and be pressed to dwell among the stars. Today, these models are being forgotten as population growth commands less of the intellectual worlds attention. Religious or ideological motivations might play a role. Stapledon thought that worlds that suffered from the mania of religious imperialism would seek interstellar travel long before economic necessity forced it on them. Science fiction author Stephen Baxter put a more positive spin on the idea: Perhaps we will build starships as we build cathedrals, as repositories of faith sailing into the future. The most universal motive for interstellar colonization will be the most basic of all: survival. Civilizations that survive for billions of years must migrate, sooner or later; as Sagan put it, their eventual choice, as ours, is spaceflight or extinction. Both Sagan and Chyba believed that this represented a cosmic selection effect, putting pressure on organisms to develop technology. Even it were not true that survival depends on colonization, Barrow and Tipler speculated that there will be a group in any intelligent species that believes that it does. They will launch the starships. Some civilizations whose stars were becoming unsuitable may have dealt with this challenge long ago by expanding away from their original homes, colonizing other systems or achieving a sustainable existence in interstellar space. There could be a widespread pattern of technological civilizations expanding outward as their stars age, but at very different times in galactic history. Migration might be a powerful force shaping the presence of intelligent beings in the galaxy. Bracewell drew an analogy. The fact that the Earth is populated with intelligent creatures is not because many habitable areas of Earth fostered the evolution of intelligence, but because one area (Africa) was the scene of events. Humans could have walked from Africa to California in less time than it would take for intelligence to evolve in California. Migration is a faster method of civilizing the Galaxy than independent evolution.
**China Disad**
Rare earth elements are the key to Chinas economic strength Bradsher 09 Resource Analyst for the New York Times (8/31/2009, Kieth Bradsher, The New York Times, China Tightens its grip on rare minerals, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/global/01minerals.html?pagewanted=1&%2360;!-Undefined%20dynamic%20function%20data_sanitationlib::sanitize_string:1%20called--&%2362;) China is set to tighten its hammerlock on the market for some of the worlds most obscure but valuable minerals. China currently accounts for 93 percent of production of so-called rare earth elements and more than 99
percent of the output for two of these elements, dysprosium and terbium, vital for a wide range of green energy technologies and military applications like missiles. Deng Xiaoping once observed that the Mideast had oil, but China had rare earth elements. As the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has done with oil, China
1nc shell
is
now starting to flex its muscle. Even tighter limits on production and exports, part of a plan from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, would ensure China has the supply for its own technological and economic needs, and force more manufacturers to make their wares here in order to have access to the minerals. In each of the last three years, China
has reduced the amount of rare earths that can be exported. This years export quotas are on track to be the smallest yet. But what is really starting to alarm Western governments and multinationals alike is the possibility that exports will be further restricted. Chinese officials will almost certainly be pressed to address the issue at a conference Thursday in Beijing. What they say could influence whether Australian regulators next week approve a deal by a Chinese company to acquire a majority stake in Australias main rare-earth mine. The detention of executives from the British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has already increased tensions. They
sell for up to
$300 a kilogram, or up to about $150 a pound for material like terbium, which is in particularly short supply. Dysprosium is $110 a kilo, or about $50 a pound. Less scare rare earth like neodymium sells for only a fraction of that. (They are considerably less expensive than precious metals because despite the names, they are found in much higher quantities and much greater concentrations than precious metal.) Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has drafted a six-year plan for rare earth production and submitted it to the State Council, the equivalent of the cabinet, according to four mining industry officials who have discussed the plan with Chinese officials . A few, often
contradictory, details of the plan have leaked out, but it appears to suggest tighter restrictions on exports, and strict curbs on environmentally damaging mines. Beijing officials are forcing global manufacturers to move factories to China by limiting the availability of rare earths outside China. Rare
earth usage in China will be increasingly greater than exports, said Zhang Peichen, the deputy director of the government-linked Baotou Rare Earth Research Institute. US asteroid mining kills Chinese economy Lamb 10 (2/17/10, Robert, Discovery News, The Ethics Of Planetary Exploration And Colonization, http://news.discovery.com/space/the-ethics-of-planetary-exploration-and-colonization.html) Can you put a price tag on an asteroid? Sure you can. We know of roughly 750 S-class asteroids with a diameter of at least 1 kilometer.
every year, a still Many of these pass as near to the Earth as our own moon -- close enough to reach via spacecraft. As a typical asteroid is 10 percent metal, Brother Consolmango estimates that such an asteroid would contain 1 billion metric tons of iron. That's as much as we mine out of the globe
supply worth trillions and trillions of dollars. Subtract the tens of billions it would cost to exploit such a rock, and you have a serious profit on your hands. But is this ethical? Brother Consolmango asked us to ponder whether such an asteroid harvest would drastically disrupt the economies of resource-exporting nations. What would happen to most of Africa? What would it do to the cost of iron ore? And what about refining and manufacturing? If we spend the money to harvest iron in space, why not outsource the other related processes as well? Imagine a future in which solar-powered robots
the manufacturing? And now you've just put all of China out of work. What are the ethical implications of this kind of major shift?" Brother Consolmango also stressed that we have the technology to begin such a shift today; we'd just need the economic and political will to do it. Will our priorities change as Earth-bound resources become more and more scarce?
toil in lunar or orbital factories. "On the one hand, it's great," Brother Consolmango said. "You've now taken all of this dirty industry off the surface of the Earth. On the other hand, you've put a whole lot of people out of work. If you've got a robot doing the mining, why not another robot doing
Chinese economic collapse causes collapse of the global economy and leads to ethnic conflict, internal chaos, and war with the US over Taiwan Lewis 8 Research Director of the Economic Research Council (5/13/08, Dan, World Finance, The Nightmare of a Chinese Economic Collapse, http://www.worldfinance.com/news/finalbell//article117.html)
In 2001, Gordon Chang authored a global bestseller "The Coming Collapse of China." To suggest that the
worlds largest nation of 1.3 billion people is on the brink of collapse is understandably for many, a deeply unnerving theme. And many seasoned China Hands rejected Changs thesis outright. In a
very real sense, they were of course right. Chinas expansion has continued over the last six years without a hitch. After notching up a staggering 10.7 percent growth last year, it is now the 4th largest economy in the world with a nominal GDP of $2.68trn. Yet there are two Chinas that concern us here; the 800 million who live in the cities, coastal and southern regions and the 500 million who live in the countryside and are mainly engaged in agriculture. The latter which we in the West hear very little about are still very poor and much less happy. Their poverty and misery do not necessarily spell an impending cataclysm after all, that is how they have always have been. But it does illustrate the inequity of Chinese monetary policy. For many years, the Chinese yen has been held at an artificially low value to boost manufacturing exports. This has clearly worked for one side of the economy, but not for the purchasing power of consumers and the rural poor, some of who are getting even poorer. The central reason for this has been the inability of Chinese monetary policy to adequately support both Chinas. Meanwhile, rural unrest in China is on the rise fuelled not only by an accelerating income gap with the coastal cities, but by an oft-reported appropriation of their land for little or no compensation by the state. According to Professor David B. Smith, one of the Citys most accurate and respected economists in recent years,
potentially far more serious though is the impact that Chinese monetary
policy could have on many Western nations such as the UK. Quite simply, Chinas undervalued currency has enabled Western governments to maintain artificially strong currencies, reduce inflation and keep interest rates lower than they might otherwise be. We should therefore be very worried about how vulnerable Western economic growth is to an upward revaluation of the Chinese yuan. Should that revaluation happen to appease Chinas rural poor, at a stroke, the dollar, sterling and the euro would quickly depreciate, rates in those currencies would have to rise substantially and the yield on government bonds would follow suit. This would add greatly to the debt servicing cost of budget deficits in the USA, the UK and much of Euro land. A reduction in demand for imported Chinese goods would quickly entail a decline in Chinas economic growth rate. That is alarming. It has been calculated that to keep Chinas society stable ie to manage the transition from a rural to an urban society without devastating unemployment - the minimum growth rate is 7.2 percent. Anything less than that and unemployment will rise and the massive shift in population from the country to the cities becomes unsustainable. This is when real discontent with communist party rule becomes vocal and hard to ignore. It doesnt end there. That will at best bring a global recession. The crucial point is that communist authoritarian states have at least had some success in keeping a lid on ethnic tensions so far. But when multi-ethnic communist countries fall apart from economic stress and the implosion of central power, history suggests that they dont become successful democracies overnight. Far from it. Theres a very real chance that China might go the way of Yugoloslavia or the Soviet Union chaos, civil unrest and internecine war. In the very worst case scenario, a Chinese government might seek to maintain national cohesion by going to war with Taiwan whom America is pledged to defend. Worldwide economic collapse leads to extinction Mead 9 Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (2/4/09, Walter, The New Republic, Only Makes you Stronger, http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html? id=571cbbb9-2887-4d81-8542-92e83915f5f8&p=2)
Frequently, the crisis
has weakened the power of the merchants, industrialists, financiers, and professionals who want to develop a liberal capitalist society integrated into the world. Crisis can also strengthen the hand of religious extremists, populist radicals, or authoritarian traditionalists who are
determined to resist liberal capitalist society for a variety of reasons. Meanwhile, the companies and banks based in
these societies are often less established and more vulnerable to the consequences of a financial crisis than more established firms in wealthier societies. As a result, developing countries and countries where capitalism has relatively recent and shallow roots tend to suffer greater economic and political damage when crisis strikes--as, inevitably, it does.
financial crises often reinforce rather than challenge the global distribution of power and wealth. This may be happening yet again. None of which means that we can just sit back and enjoy the recession.
And, consequently, History may suggest that financial crises actually help capitalist great powers maintain their leads--but it has other, less reassuring
If financial crises have been a normal part of life during the 300-year rise of the liberal capitalist system under the Anglophone powers, so has war. The wars of the League of Augsburg and the Spanish Succession; the Seven Years War; the American Revolution; the Napoleonic Wars; the two World Wars; the cold war: The list of wars is almost as long as the list of financial crises. Bad economic times can breed wars. Europe
messages as well. was a pretty peaceful place in 1928,
If the current crisis turns into a depression, what rough beasts might start slouching toward Moscow, Karachi, Beijing, or New Delhi to be born? The United States may not, yet, decline, but, if we can't get the world economy back on track, we may still have to fight.
Hitler to power.
but the Depression poisoned German public opinion and helped bring Adolf
Chinese economy reliant on rare earth elements Scott 6/16 (6/16/11, Jason, Business Week, Rare Earth Prices Double on China, Industrial Minerals Says, http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-06-16/rare-earth-prices-double-on-china-industrial-mineralssays.html) Prices of some rare earths, used in hybrid cars and laptops, have more than doubled in the past two weeks as China seeks to tighten control of mining, production and exports, Industrial Minerals said. Dysprosium oxide, used in magnets, lasers and nuclear reactors, has risen to about $1,470 a kilogram from about $700- $740 at the start of the month, Industrial Minerals said in an e-mailed statement. Prices of heavy rare earths have surged since the start of the month as the Chinese government announced further plans to centralize control over the countrys mining assets, the London-based websites editor, Mark Watts, said yesterday in the statement. China, supplier of 95 percent of global rare earths, has been curbing domestic output growth and exports of the metals, sending prices soaring and souring ties with major users including the U.S. and Japan. Beijing wants to set aside some deposits, with mining not allowed without central government approval, the Ministry of Land and Resources
said yesterday. The nation will raise standards for exporters and wont approve new project expansions in an effort to curb overcapacity, illegal mining and sales, the government said last month. It
Uniqueness ext.
would raise resource taxes on mined rare earths by a big margin to increase costs and boost prices, the State Council said. The land ministry in February prohibited non-government entities from exploring or mining for rare earths in an area
covering 11 mining zones near the southern city of Ganzhou in Jiangxi province. Such restrictions may apply to other mining areas, and the ministry will select part of these areas as its strategic reserves, Wang Min, a deputy minister, said at a meeting in Beijing, according to the ministrys own newspaper published on its website. Turbines, Missiles Heavy
rare earths, which are largely mined in the southern Chinese province of Jiangxi, have been subject to tighter environmental controls and a government crackdown on historically widespread illegal mining, Watts said. Europium oxide, used for its phosphorescent properties found in plasma TVs and energy-saving light bulbs, has risen to as much as $3,400 a
kilogram from between $1,260-$1,300, Industrial Minerals said. A group of 17 elements known as rare earths is used in wind turbines, hybrid cars and defense applications such as guided missiles. Chinas Inner Mongolia Baotou region produces so- called light rare earths such as lanthanum, cerium and samarium. Heavy rare-earth production, concentrated in the south of China such as Ganzhou, includes the elements dysprosium, gadolinium and terbium. A table on the website of Lynas Corp. shows the composite price of eight rare earths found at its Mt Weld project in Western Australia has surged to $203.60 a kilogram on June 13, from $92.84 on March 31 and $11.59 in 2007.
Demand for rare-earth elements is increasing in applications that are less esoteric than say, 20 years ago, Watts said. China, which is the worlds main commercially developed rare-earth elements source of supply, is reducing exports and increasing its consumption.
Internal link ext.

Chinese economy can adversely affect economies around the world Magee 6/27 (6/27/11, David, International Business Times, The China Question: How Will the Country's Economic Difficulties Impact the U.S., Other Global Powers?, http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/170018/20110627/china-housing-bubble-economic-stimulus-u-s-chanoscommunist-government-global-economy-federal-stimul.htm) The debate on whether China is about to implode as the next big economic bubble bust or not continues to rage, but even the most bullish on the Asian economy must admit there's fire behind this billowing smoke cloud. The question then becomes only what the impact will be to America and other world economic powers.
Just this week, China's communist government announced that local governments in the country have piled up debts of $1.6 trillion, raising concerns of banks' health in the nation if the loans can't be repaid. The money was borrowed by local governments throughout the country during the boom period of the last decade as China's economy has emerged fast to become the world's second largest, bypassing Japan, to pay for construction and other spending. Analysts acknowledge some local governments might not be able to repay loans, but they suggest massive default and meltdown iss unlikely since state-owned banks in China have plenty of cash and are not mortgage-debt ridden like so many Western banks that were hurt in the 2008 meltdown. Still, few
officials saw the scope of the financial crisis coming that struck the U.S. in 2008, spreading globally and requiring governments including the U.S. and throughout Europe to step in with emergency spending and loan programs for banks to avoid a cataclysmic meltdown. And, even the report
made by from China's communist government about the local-agency debt issue facing the country stated that some local governments in China would not likely be able to repay loans. The total sum of $1.6 trillion is significant, even for China. "Due to inadequate repayment ability, some local governments can only pay their debts by taking on still more debt," stated the report, provided by China's National Audit Office. Bank lending domestically was a significant part of China's economic stimulus package during the global recession. Beijing contributed an estimated $586 billion in stimulus, buoying the Chinese economy, yet that is only a portion of the money borrowed by local governments and agencies over the last decade. According to an Associated Press report, American researcher Victor Shih of Northwestern University estimates local government borrowing in China between 2004-2009 at $1.6 trillion. China's state-owned banks are among the world's largest, with estimates suggesting they have $1 trillion in assets. At issue is whether or not China has a housing bubble that is set to implode, setting off spiraling effects that cause larger defaults by local governments than many officials are predicting. Now
that China has passed Japan to become the world's second largest economy and the country is the leading low-cost goods provider to the U.S., and also among the largest holders of American debt, the issue merits close watching for U.S. companies and heavily-invested individuals who could be impacted by a large scale financial meltdown in China. Chinese economic collapse would harm economies around the world Shilling 6/27 - president of A. Gary Shilling & Co. and author of The Age of Deleveraging: Investment Strategies for a Decade of Slow Growth and Deflation. (6/27/11, Gary, Why Chinas Heading for a Hard Landing, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-27/why-china-s-heading-for-a-hard-landing-part-1-agary-shilling.html) Few countries are more important to the global economy than China. But its reputation as an unstoppable giant -- as a country with an unending supply of cheap labor and limitless capacity for growth -- masks some serious and worsening economic problems. Chinas labor force is aging. Its consumers save too much and spend too little. Its political and economic policy tools remain crude. Its state bureaucracy seems likely to curb spending just as exports weaken, and thus risks deflation. As U.S. consumers retrench, and as the global commodity bubble begins to dissipate, these fundamental weaknesses will combine in a way thats unlikely to end well for China -- or for the rest of the world. To start, China is much more vulnerable to an international slowdown than is generally understood. In late 2007, my firms research found that too few people in China had the discretionary
spending capability to support its economy domestically. Our analysis showed that it took a per-capita gross domestic product of about $5,000 to have meaningful discretionary spending power in China. About 110 million Chinese had that much or more, but they constituted only 8 percent of the population and accounted for just 35 percent of GDP in 2009, while exports accounted for 27 percent. Even Chinas middle and upper classes had only 6 percent of Americans purchasing power. Why Overconfidence Abounds With such limited domestic spending, why do so many analysts predict that China can continue its robust growth? In part because they
believe in the misguided concept of global decoupling -- the idea that even if the U.S. economy suffers a setback, the rest of the world, especially developing countries such as China and India, will continue to flourish.
Recently -- after Chinas huge $586 billion stimulus program in 2009; massive imports of industrial materials such as iron ore and copper; booms in construction of cement, steel and power plants, and other industrial capacity; and a pickup in economic growth -- the decoupling argument has been back in vogue. This
concept is flawed for a simple reason: Almost all developing countries depend on exports for growth, a point underscored by their persistent trade surpluses and the huge size of Asian exports relative to GDP. Further, the majority of exports by Asian countries go directly or indirectly to the U.S. We saw the effects of this starting in 2008: As U.S. consumers retrenched and global recession reigned, China and most other developing Asian countries suffered keenly. Overconfidence in Chinas ability to keep its economy booming is also partly psychological. It
reminds me of the admiration and envy (even fear) that many felt toward Japan during its bubble days in the 1980s. As Japanese companies bought Californias Pebble Beach, Iowa farmland and Rockefeller Center in New York, what was safe from their zillions? Then the Japanese stock and real-estate bubbles collapsed, and Japan entered the deflationary depression in which its still mired.
Asteroid mining leads to Chinese Economic collapse Newitz 10 (Analee, Feb 19, 2010, Exoplanetary Ethics, http://io9.com/5475304/will-asteroid-miningdestroy-the-chinese-economy)
Can you put a price tag on an asteroid? Sure you can. We know of roughly 750 S-class asteroids with a diameter of at least 1 kilometer. Many of these pass as near to the Earth as our own moon close enough to reach via spacecraft. As a typical asteroid is 10 percent metal, Brother Consolmango estimates that such an asteroid would contain 1 billion metric tons of iron. That's as much as we mine out of the globe every year, a supply worth trillions and trillions of dollars. Subtract the tens of billions it would cost to exploit such a rock, and you still have a serious profit on your hands. But is this ethical? Brother Consolmango asked us to ponder whether such an asteroid harvest would drastically disrupt the economies of resource-exporting nations. What would happen to most of Africa? What would it do to the cost of iron ore? And what about refining and manufacturing? If we spend the money to harvest iron in space, why not outsource the other related processes as well? Imagine a future in which solar-powered robots toil in lunar or orbital factories."On the one hand, it's great," Brother Consolmango said. "You've now taken all of this dirty industry off the surface of the Earth. On the other hand, you've put a whole lot of people out of work. If you've got a robot doing the mining, why not another robot doing the manufacturing? And now you've just put all of China out of work. What are the ethical implications of this kind of major shift?"
A2 Rare earth elements dont come from asteroids

Asteroid mining supplies rare earth elements Ross 01 [Shane, Assistant Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, December 14, 2001, Near-Earth Asteroid Mining, Space Industry
Report, http://76.75.200.144/settlement/asteroids/NearEarthAsteroidMining(Ross2001).pdf]
Asteroid mining is a concept that involves the extraction of useful materials from asteroids. Due to their accessibility, near-Earth asteroids (those asteroids that pass near the Earth, also known as NEAs) are a particularly accessible subset of the asteroids that provide potentially attractive targets for resources to support space industrialization. Many materials could be extracted and processed from NEAs which are useful for propulsion, construction life support, agriculture, metallurgy, semiconductors, and precious and strategic metals (see Table 1). Volatiles such as hydrogen and methane could be used to produce rocket propellant to transport spacecraft between space habitats, Earth, the Moon, the asteroids, and beyond. Rare-earth metals could be used to manufacture structural materials as well as solar photovoltaic arrays which could be used to power space or lunar habitats. These solar cells could also be used in a constellation of solar power satellites in orbit around the Earth in order to provide electrical power for its inhabitants. Precious metals such as platinum, platinum-group metals (PGMs), and gold are also available. Asteroids are the best supplier of rare earth elements Mr. Vs Think Pad 10 Writer of over 65 blogs about space (10/21/10, Mr. Vs Think Pad, Astronomy: Asteroid Mining, http://mrvsthinkpad.blogspot.com/2010/10/astronomy-asteriod-mining.html) Rare earth elements (also known as rare earth metals) are a series of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, namely scandium, yttrium, and the fifteen lanthanides. Rare earth elements have only been known since 1794, when yttrium was first discovered in Sweden. The properties in rare earth elements are essential to the development of modern energy conversion and telecommunication technologies. While rare earth elements are
abundant, their low concentrations in geologic formation makes mining and processing difficult, expensive and environmentally destructive. As measured in 2006, there were approximately 137,000-tons of commercial grade rare-earth reserves known. Over 90% of these reserves, both light and heavy ores, were in China. As of 2009, 97% of all rare earth production and exportation was from China. At current rates of consumption, current reserves of ores with concentrations of 6% and higher will run out long before petroleum. This will drive prices up exponentially from the present rates of $US500 to $US1000 per pound. One endeavor being made in response to the depletion of these rare earths is use of Remote Sensing Technologies to identify locations on earth where deposits of ores can be found. Transposing full spectrum photo image pixels from satellites and aerial reconnaissance into digital databases allows geologists the ability to manipulate information and search out rare earth resources. Another endeavor is to find rare earth elements in sea water. By bonding them with other chemicals then extracting the bonded molecular compound, researchers have been able to extract measurable quantities of rare earth elements out of ocean salt water. However, the technologies for large scale extraction are not competitive yet competitive with those of terrestrial based mining. A third endeavor
being considered is that of mining rare earth elements from asteroids. Present indication are that asteroids have concentrations of rare earth elements in their geology which many times higher than those found on earth. In such high concentrations, mining of asteroids could be profitable in spite of the high cost of launch operations. Sending robots or humans to mine rare earth elements from off asteroids may sound very science fiction and unreal, but consider; the concentration of rare earth elements in asteroids is much higher than anywhere on earth, and also higher than that of the moon. Near earth asteroids orbit much closer to earth than the moon.
**Spending Links**
Spends too much

The plan cost 100 billion or more Ross 01 (Shane Ross, Professor of Dynamical Systems at Caltech PHD, Space Industry Report, Near-Earth Asteroid Mining, 12-14-01, pg. 5)
Space mining could entail capitalization of a $100 billion or more (Kargel [1996]). Historically, private ventures for large and
risky engineering projects have been capitalized at comparable levels: $20 billion was spent on the Alaska Pipeline, and an estimated $55 billion will be spent for Indonesian oil and gas exploration.
Its too expensive to go to space for metals that we still have on Earth Brak 06 Research Scientist (Ronald, 2/6/06, Research scientist, The Great Mining Con, http://ronaldbrak.blogspot.com/2006/02/great-asteroid-mining-con.html) Some people say that weightlessness in space will make refining stuff like platinum easier. Well I challenge everyone in the whole wide world to name one thing that is easier in weightlessness, and youre not allowed to say, Floating in the air. I cant think of anything at all that becomes easier in zero gee. There is a reason why the space shuttle toilet cost twenty-three million dollars, you know. But what if Im wrong? What if it is easier to refine metals in weightlessness? If only there were some way to mimic weightlessness on earth. If only there were some sort of substance in which things could float. Just for the sake of the argument, I would call this imaginary substance a liquid. If only we could convert say platinum ore into some sort of magical liquid solution when we refine it. Wait a minute! Thats what they actually do in platinum refineries! Several times in fact! Freaky, hey? But even so, extracting platinum from ore is a very expensive and difficult business, despite the weightlessness offered by this incredible stuff called liquid. Then theres the argument that we have to go into space and mine asteroids now because the earth is running out of metals. Well this just isnt true. A couple of hours drive from my house there is enough copper in the ground to supply the earth for maybe a couple of hundred years. But nobody is extracting it because the ore is so low grade it would take a hellacious amount of energy and effort to refine it. The more energy it costs to extract, the more the copper is going to cost. The earth might be running out of cheap and convenient high quality deposits of some metals, but its certainly not running out of metal. In the future we may have to pay extra for the energy to extract metals from low grade deposits, but its still going to be easier to extract copper from ore that only has a few kilos of copper per ton than its going to be to extract copper from asteroids that have only grams of copper per ton.
**Privatization CP**
The private sector is a better way to do asteroid mining Gertsch and Gertsch 5 - research associate professor of mining engineering at Michigan Technological University and PHD in mining engineering from University of Missouri (2005, Richard and Leslie, Economic Analysis Tools For Mineral Projects In Space, http://www.kemcom.net/EconAnal.pdf)
Recognizing that initial space ventures may have some degree of government involvement, profit may not be the apparent initial motive for the venture.
Solvency Evidence
Allowing a commercial operation to piggyback a government operation can accomplish two things: bootstrap further space operations, and offset some of the costs incurred by the government. Both are desirable outcomes. However, the process of selecting the participating companies may have unforeseen political and economic consequences. Government can also appeal to the profit motive with devices similar to the Air Mail Act of early this century, where it bids goods and services for fixed (perhaps even subsidized) prices, and lets private companies make whatever profit they can. Similar to the old Airmail Act, this has been proposed as a mechanism to deliver oxygen to cislunar space (Davis, 1983). Sales are generated by two complementary occurrences: 1) the existence of a product, and 2) a market for the product.
Markets are based on need; there is no market if no one wants to buy the product. Therefore the product must be salable, not just produceable. Sometimes marketeers forget that they must produce something before they can sell it. General Motors is a well-known poster-child for this problem. During the seventies and eighties, critics charged that GM forgot they had to make not just cars, but quality cars, before they had something to sell. In space, the problem is perhaps the opposite. Many products already have been identified, but the markets are either non-
existent or government-dependent. Habitats, metals, concrete, water, air, He-3, etc., have no real demand yet except as government-sponsored activities. It becomes very difficult to calculate the true value of a product in this environment. Equation (1) becomes meaningless, and many would-be space entrepreneurs must justify their project by simply pointing out that they may be able to supply a low-demand government mission cheaper than the government can. Using the private sector to mine asteroids is the most effective way to get resources from space Permanent.com No date (No date, Permanent.com, A Near-Term Private Profitable Manned Mission to a Near-Earth Asteroid, http://www.permanent.com/m-1stmis.htm)
Personally, I would prefer to see a private multinational company embark on such a project rather than a specific nation or governmental bureaucracy. While I would happily be of assistance to either in the absence of much serious work, at this point in time I'd rather not lobby arrogant
career government bureaucrats any longer and instead promote a private sector venture, and indeed also invite government employees who've had enough of their governmental limitations. Understand, most of the government work on using lunar materials is for a lunar scientific base and a steppingstone to a manned Mars mission, which is an old, traditional NASA goal, and not for making products and services to benefit Earth economies and people as is the purpose of PERMANENT and certain others. This article focuses on a private sector mission, which appears more able to act quickly in the near term to develop the market due to less bureaucracy and delays in decisionmaking, inclusions of freelance talent, and leaner & meaner organizational options. A free enterprise space economy would be naturally more sustainable, more accountable to practical needs and wants, and would be able to offer many more products and services. While governments have more money and can absorb risk and long payback times, what is needed is well within reach by the private sector -- less money than the Alaska oil pipeline and many offshore oil platforms, and a shorter payback time than those megaprojects. Unlike offshore oil platforms, we're guaranteed to not come up with a dry hole. It's lower risk, higher payback, and greater potential. The risk is debatable in the details but is fairly clear in the general decision points. For example, traditional government-contracting researchers (who tend to be low risk types) state over and over in their research bids that we still don't know precisely what is the best design of equipment to use to mine the moon (and how much different is the story than it was 20 years ago... before the last 20 years of R&D in this field), and we need to pay them to perform more research (can we expect endless technical papers regarding better equipment?) ... but for the first major step out an optimal equipment design is not necessary. Indeed, we may be wasting our time with paper studies until we retrieve some real asteroidal material and start working with it in orbit. So, what we really need to do is simply go stake a real estate claim on an asteroid, characterize it, get some asteroid resources, bring them back to Earth orbit, start experimenting with and developing some space-based industrial techniques on this retrieved material, and stake and develop patented systems. We should use relatively unspecialized but flexible equipment that will do a satisfactory enough job to turn a profit, even though it might turn out to be far from what would have been proper or optimal. We should follow the successful Apollo adage: "Better is the enemy of good enough." Time counts, too. Below, I lay out a general scenario whereby we retrieve some bulk asteroidal material into low Earth orbit, start developing space based industrial equipment using this bulk material, make some useful and valuable products as a result of this R&D, and make large amounts of money in indirect ways. A first mission, with the proper public relations effort, would surely mobilize public attention, including capital from the world's biggest movers and shapers. The current barriers are publicity of the concepts (which this book deals with) and the
psychological barrier ("Is this for real?" -- but forget the die-hard skeptics -- cynics never have found a way to make a difference in making history). A
first mission, however modest, would open the floodgates to investment and competition - a "space race" between private companies, and the owner of the first mission would have a huge lead on the competition as well as be in a strong position to sell to the competition. What better game plan is there? A first mission to retrieve asteroidal resources into Earth orbit needs only to go collect a huge mass of materials and return this bulk to Earth orbit. Nothing fancy or advanced. The same could be said for lunar materials. However, I think asteroidal materials are cheaper because less fuel is needed (i.e., smaller, cheaper spacecraft), it doesn't need to perform a risky landing and launch from a big gravitational body like the Moon (especially with a sizeable collection of material!), and the quality of material from asteroids is much better. (In the moon vs. asteroids debate, few people question that asteroids offer much better materials in the long run.)
**Robot CP**
CP TEXT: The United States federal government should deploy humans to mind asteroids beyond the Earths mesosphere. Humans in space are better for the mission and generate public space interest
1NC
Space Studies Program 10 (international Space University Space Studies Program 2010, Pg. 14)
Recent advancements in the aerospace and medical fields have made the establishment of a permanent human presence in space more tangible than ever. While adding humans to an asteroid mining mission is a risky, costly, and laborious process, human involvement offers a number of important advantages. Those characteristics that make us uniquely human - flexibility, adaptability, creativity - translate into problem-solving, decision-making, and troubleshooting capabilities. These traits have the potential to dramatically improve the performance and success of a mission. While research and development in the robotic approximation of these characteristics is underway, comparable success has yet to be achieved. For example, complex maintenance and repair of mining equipment or facilities may be better suited to the unparalleled dexterity afforded by a human hand, avoiding the loss of millions of dollars in otherwise unsalvageable assets. However, the true value of human spaceflight lies not only in money. While financial impact is certainly a cornerstone consideration for a commercial venture and is often the dominant metric and motivator in Western (if not all) societies, a human mining mission would also have the added benefit of fulfilling a societal craving: that of our need to explore and to expand our society beyond the limits of Earth. More simply than that, a human presence in so strange a place as space inspires us, and subsequent generations, to achieve even greater technological and scientific heights. To draw upon a simple analogy, cultural institutions like the Eiffel tower, opera houses, or theatres may not be financially utilitarian, but they continue to exist because they help us to fulfill a greater cultural need (Codignola and Schrogl, 2009). While human missions are more costly, they provide valuable benefits in the areas of cultural inspiration and increased mission performance. In addition to the potential role of humans in long-term space flight, this section
discusses the ethical, social and medical aspects of such missions.
Public engagement key to more space exploration COSPAR 10 (Panel on Exploration Report (2010) Toward a Global Space Exploration Program: A Stepping Stone Approach COSPAR, Paris, June
2010, 80 pp.)
In order to achieve highly ambitious space exploration goals for exploring the inner solar system both robotically and with humans, space agencies must improve and expand their efforts to inform the public about what they are doing, and why. Various public surveys suggest that the part of society that supports the space program and believes that space exploration is a noble endeavor does not necessarily agree that governments should allocate substantial financial resources to achieve those exciting space missions. To attain long-term support for a sustainable space exploration program, it is advisable to adopt new participatory communication techniques aimed at informing and engaging the public, as well as reaching the younger generation in particular (Ehrenfreund et al. 2010b). The
International Space University (ISU), for example is active in raising cultural awareness in the space domain, representing an environment of intercultural spirit through its 3I approach (International, Interdisciplinary, Intercultural dimensions). 55The ESSC report Humans in Outer Space discussed recently how space activities worldwide are now entering an era where
the contribution of the humanities is crucial besides political, industrial and scientific considerations to nurture public constituencies for long-term space exploration (ESSC 2008). It is necessary to engage public stakeholders in the planning and the process of space exploration. Consultation, collaboration and consensus building with public stakeholders will help to ensure sustainability of a long-term space exploration program and foster aspirations for exploring the unknown.
Extend space studies program- Humans are better for the mission. In an emergency they robots wouldnt be able to fix it. And humans have certain skill set that quote have the potential to dramatically improve the performance and success of a mission also its key to public interest. Extend COSPAR- Public interest is key to more space exploration. Without this support you cant claim space colonization because there would be a cut off of space exploration. The only way to solve fo rhte plan is with the CP. And More evidence Robots wont work and they hurt public interest
2NC Overview
McKinney 09 (5-13-9, Luke McKinney, The Daily Galaxy contributer, Space Exploration: The Humans Vs. the Robots Debate, http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/05/future-of-man-v.html)
The suitability of robots for space missions is obvious: they're tough, they're precisely controllable, they don't sissy out and die without air and they can live for years on a battery. All the great big explorations recently - Mars, Enceladus, the Sun itself - have been conducted by our automated assistants while the wimpy humans potter around with their new garden shed in the back garden (aka "the ISS in orbit"). Since the machines can go so
far, why do humans need to bother at all? First of all, they're not very smart. Signals can only move at light speed, so communications with the Rovers (for example) take eight minutes back and forth. They only program it once a day for safety's sake, so it's less "the ultimate RC car" and more "so carefully it makes chess Grandmasters look like skateboarding teenagers". By the time computer minds are smart enough to work out what to do by themselves, well, by that point we won't be telling them what to do anymore. We'll be asking if they could please send us back some data from where
they go, and we'll be doing it politely.
The second and more important point, however, is that we HAVE to go. What's the point in space travel if we treat these incredible feats of space exploration as nothing but chores? "Oh, send a robot up to fix the satellite signal please, American Idol XV: Swimsuit Edition is on soon." One factor the book addresses is the critical loss of interest in space travel by the latest generation, aka "Them damn kids". Surveys have shown that many 18-25 year olds don't see the point in manned space exploration - the most convincing proof yet presented that many 18-25 years olds need a smack in the back of the head. One reason they mention is that it's "too far", a terrifying indication that the sheer damn-the-consequences
inquisitiveness that drove our species out of the water, down from the trees and from caves to two-hundred meter towers may have finally been crushed under the weight of reality TV and YouTube. Too far? That's the entire point! Dismissing space travel as too much effort
only encourages the image of the pasty, out-of-shape kid sloshing around a seat in front of a computer eating crumbs from their keyboard because the fridge is "too far" away.
Extend Space Programs- cultural happenings like this need to be done by humans to be truly inspirational Extend McKinney- Sending robots makes it seem like a chore something that the public is not interested in And not using Humans hurts morale
A2: Humans Not Key
Space.com 10 (Adam Hadhazy, staff writer, Space.com, Robots or humans in space? Colbert and Tyson speak out,
http://www.space.com/8184-robots-humans-space-colbert-tyson-speak.html, 4-9-10) Colbert and Tyson worried about the impact that the planned shifting of
funds within NASA from human spaceflight to robotic missions will have on the future of American scientific morale. "Worst of all, guess what NASA plans to spend its budget on now that Obama has killed the Constellation program?" the comedic anchor asked. "$4.9 billion to develop better robots, and $3 billion for unmanned ships." "Sending robots into space does not win glory for Americans," Colbert went on. "It wins glory for Roombas." "You always want to invest in robots," Tyson said. "The problem is you don't want to do that to the exclusion of the rest of the manned program . . . People don't name high schools after robots." Though NASA does intend to support commercial, private efforts to get people into space, Colbert and Tyson feel that the end of the astronaut era bodes badly for space science in general.
None of their Watson evidence concludes that Astronauts will die. Plus wed be able to adapt to large exposure to radiation.
A2: Astronauts in danger
Extend COSPAR- public support for space is key to further exploration
A2: Public interest not key to more exploration
Public support key to changes in policies Burstein 08 Department of Sociology, University of Washington, (Paul, "PUBLIC OPINION, PUBLIC
POLICY, AND DEMOCRACY: OLD EXPECTATIONS AND NEW," http://www.soc.washington.edu/users/burstein/Burstein_Jenkins.pdf) Who is right? Is public opinion the key determinant of public policy? Or are other forces much more powerful? For at least a couple of decades, research has favored the strong effect view. Erikson et al.s (1993:80) conclusion that the strength of the opinion-policy correlation is awesome and Stimson, MacKuen, and Eriksons finding (1995:557) that there exists about a one-to-one translation of preferences into policy may seem a bit hyperbolic (e.g., Page 2002:327), but most studies do find opinion affecting policy, often quite strongly (Burstein 1998a, 2003a). With regard to expenditures on important policies, government and public respond to each other meaningfully over time: the government responds to the publics preferences for changes in spending, and the public, in turn, reacts to the governments response and adjusts its preferences accordinglywhen the public wants expenditures raised, the government raises them, and when the public is satisfied, it ceases asking for increases (Wlezien 1995, 2004; Soroka and Lim 2003; Soroka and Wlezien 2005) . Other studies point in the same direction (see, e.g., Brooks and Manza 2007; Erikson, MacKuen, and Stimson 2002; and the reviews in Weakliem 2005 and Wlezien and Soroka 2007). There is even some evidence that public opinion matters when other forces (such as interest organizations, the party balance, and elites activities) are taken into account (Burstein 2003a:34-5). So convincing is the evidence that sociologists, long doubtful about the publics influence on government, have come to take opinion seriously (e.g., Agnone 2007; McAdam and Su 2002; Soule and Olzak 2004; see also Burstein 1998a; Weakliem 2005).
Public opinion changes public policy Burstein 08 (Paul, Department of Sociology, University of Washington, "PUBLIC OPINION, PUBLIC
POLICY, AND DEMOCRACY: OLD EXPECTATIONS AND NEW," http://www.soc.washington.edu/users/burstein/Burstein_Jenkins.pdf)
Given all these problems in measuring opinion, policy, and the relationship between them, what can we say about the impact of public opinion on public policy for those policies about which public opinion may be said to exist? Overall the finding that opinion influences policy is amazingly robustmost studies show opinion affecting policy regardless of how opinion, policy, and the relationship between them is measured. Its not possible to say anything very meaningful about how strong the relationship is, or how the strength depends on circumstances. Because better measures are often associated with finding stronger relationships (Hyslop and Imbens 2001; King, Keohane, and Verba 1994:157-68), it may be that the current approach to measuring public opinion leads us to underestimate its impact on policy.
Manned and unmanned programs are incompatible Washington Post o3 Staff researcher Margot Williams contributed to this report, (2-27-03, "Spaceflight
A2: Perm do Both
Debate Pits Man vs. Machine ," http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=13&hid=24&sid=87c91bd9-639a4082-89d0-bad2a6079ffa%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d %3d#db=nfh&AN=WPT279917457403) The unmanned program has had major setbacks -- two Mars probes that failed in 1999 and a Hubble telescope that had an out-of-focus mirror when it was launched. Between 1993 and 2001, in fact, about one in five missions in NASA's Space Science division were failures. But the unmanned program has overcome these obstacles to become NASA's crown jewel, and when the House Science Committee convenes its first hearing today on the agency's proposed $15.5 billion budget for 2004, lawmakers will try to decide whether to stand firm with the shuttle and the space station or gradually to shift priorities to unmanned exploration. "My sense is that manned spaceflight is something we want to continue to do," said Rep. James T. Walsh (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House subcommittee that funds the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "But the minority view is louder, that manned flight doesn't get the scientific return it was suggested it would." And in a reversal of historical precedent, lawmakers may have to worry for the first time that an unmanned-program proposal -- the development of an expensive, must-have nuclear power and propulsion system for deep-space probes -- can go forward only at the expense of human spaceflight. "Just as the space station cannibalized the rest of NASA research, now we're going to see this new initiative start to cannibalize the station," said Rep. Bart Gordon (Tenn.), the ranking Democrat on the House space and aeronautics subcommittee. "Until there's a commitment from the administration to fund what's on our plate right now, it seems a little bit awkward to start taking on additional expenditures."

Asteroid Mining Neg MNDI

Transféré par

Informations du document

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Asteroid Mining Neg MNDI

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Table of Contents

NASA is already developing a vehicle to asteroid mine

Actual mining is a danger to the crew

not control pricing power for rare earths, a columnist from

Reuters told CRI on Thursday.

Prefer Short Term Risks

2NC Link Ext.

2NC A2: Aliens Peaceful

2NC Aliens Bad !

2NC Alien Domination Ext.

arrive at a new planet well-armed and ready for combat.

Ext. A2: Aliens arent in space

Internal link ext.

A2 Rare earth elements dont come from asteroids

Spends too much

A2: Humans Not Key

A2: Astronauts in danger

Extend COSPAR- public support for space is key to further exploration

A2: Public interest not key to more exploration

A2: Perm do Both

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi